Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for Education Next, Paul Hill discusses the successes of using the portfolio strategy in education, conflicts in educational leadership, and the potential of this strategy by understanding its ratchet effect. 

· How are portfolio strategies used in different fields? How is it used in education and educational leadership? 

· Check out this article listing advocacy organizations making a difference in education. 

The portfolio strategy has driven real improvement in urban K–12 school systems over the past 10 years. Results in Chicago, New Orleans, and New York City have been strong, and portfolio has started to reverse the decline of poverty-ridden cities like Camden, Cleveland, and Indianapolis. But progress is now uncertain, given changes in governorships and state legislatures, and the Trump-DeVos agenda’s alienation of many natural supporters on the left. District leadership changes in key cities like Denver and Indianapolis, and toxic charter politics in Oakland, also pose challenges.

This is not the time for supporters to move on to something else. Yes, portfolio strategies are encountering new headwinds, but the old education system can’t really come back. Alternative strategies—paying more money to the same teachers to do the same things, and trying to improve schools with diverse populations via initiatives seeking districtwide uniformity—have never worked, and won’t work in the future.

And school leaders in portfolio districts have learned to appreciate having control over their budgets and hiring decisions. They will resist giving up that power. Parents, including those from low-income areas who did not have good options before and those from higher-income areas who are swelling enrollment in many cities, will be reluctant to give up their choices. New teachers attracted to charter and autonomous district schools—including not only career switchers but also newcomers recruited from Teach for America and well-organized dissident groups within local teachers unions—won’t go away.

Read the full article about the portfolio strategy by Paul Hill at Education Next.